NAAJ News Winners - 2024
Category description: Entries in this category inform readers about a timely, important, interesting agricultural issue or event in an objective, thorough manner. One story or package of stories (sidebars or secondary stories) published together on a single day is a single entry in this category.
Number of entries: 39
Judge’s comments about the competition: The entries in the news-writing category demonstrate both the complexity of the agricultural industry — changing, yet maintaining the same issues and values — and the skill of journalists who are covering these topics. As someone who grew up on a farm in a very, very different era, reviewing these exceptional entries was often an education in itself. It’s honestly fascinating ... even to someone who’s been a “townie” all her adult life.
Judge: Nancy Edmonds Hanson is a freelance writer and a journalism teacher at Minnesota State University who has explored virtually every corner of the communications industry in the Upper Midwest — as a newspaper and magazine writer, editor and columnist, author, book publisher, television producer, advertising executive, and marketing and public relations consultant. She was a reporter at The Forum (Fargo, N.D.) and is now the sole writer for her local weekly newspaper.
FIRST PLACE — Grey Moran, Civil Eats
How Crop Insurance Prevents Some Farmers From Adapting to Climate Change — 9/20/2023
Judge’s comments: Grey Moran writes clearly and cogently of the contradiction inherent in how the rules of FCIP work against farmers using demonstrated practices to protect the region’s water supply. It’s a complex topic. The writer does a good job of clearly laying out the issue — protection of farmers’ income versus protection of the water on which their long-term success depends. First-rate!
SECOND PLACE — Lena Beck, Modern Farmer
Plastic Mulch is Problematic — and Everywhere. Can We Do Better? — 8/3/2023
Judge’s comments: Lena Beck explores the dark side of the otherwise-effective use of plastic mulch — material with long-term negative effects on crops, consumers and the environment. It’s a big story, with implications across a broad swath of the nation, and she handles multiple sources and viewpoints with deft confidence ... including the conclusion, that no single solution currently solves the problem.
THIRD PLACE — Jeff DeYoung, Iowa Farmer Today
Plans made to weather loss, build for future — 10/21/2023
Judge’s comments: Zoe Martin’s story on succession planning — a tough subject for many farm families — blends a farmer’s personal comments on the challenges of losing a farming partner and family member with helpful information on how to face what, for many, is the unthinkable.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
—Bart Pfankuch, South Dakota News Watch
Long-held rural values at odds in South Dakota gun range debate — 5/4/2023
Judge’s comments: Bart Pfankuch explores the conflict between two parties usually on the same side -- gun advocates and hobbyists, and rural residents who fear the dawn-to-dusk ruckus of shooting at a range near their homes or, in one case, a Bible camp. He lets each side make their case in a straightforward way, while retaining the emotional overlay of the situation. Good job!
—Cassidy Walter, Successful Farming
A Log-Term Investment: Proper forest management can benefit farm families for generations — 4/10/2023
Judge’s comments: Cassidy Walter kicks off an interesting story on putting an often-overlooked resource to work with an intriguing lead. It effectively draws the reader into her story on finding profits in farmers’ forests. The story moves well with strong quotes and good organization.
—Katie Dehlinger, DTN/Progressive Farmer
Implications of ChatGPT in Ag — 4/18/2023
Artificial Intelligence Tools Like ChatGPT Could Change Decision Making on the Farm
Judge’s comments: Katie Dehlinger has put together an objective story on pluses and minuses of ChatGPT. She presents the background of the technology in a way that’s clear to those who may lack much of the high-tech training that the subject seems to demand, focusing on both its possibilities today and its promise tomorrow.